Easy Reader Radar: Puppy Mudge Wants to Play by Cynthia Rylant

Puppy Mudge Wants to Play. by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Sucie Stevenson. 2006. Simon Spotlight. 32 pages. ISBN: 9781416915560

Last week, I mentioned that relationships between animals are often at the center of easy reader books. This week, I realize that I forgot about that other equally common relationship - a child and his or her pet. Puppy Mudge Wants to Play, which is another Pre-Level One Ready-to-Read book, shines the spotlight on the friendship between a boy, Henry, and his dog, Mudge, back when Mudge was a puppy. (Henry and Mudge, as you might know, is a popular Level 2 Easy Reader series, which also has a spin-off series entitled Annie and Snowball.)

Henry is trying to read, but Mudge wants attention, so he starts making mischief. He pulls at Henry’s socks, chews up his shoelaces, and even sits on Henry until finally, the boy gives in and plays a game with Mudge. This is basically the exact same plot as appears in Happy and Honey, but Cynthia Rylant tells her story in a slightly different way. In Happy and Honey, the young kitten’s excitement comes from her playful nature, whereas Mudge becomes restless because Henry is reading, something Mudge is not able to do. Since Henry is a human being who can speak, Rylant also includes some simple dialogue in her story, which gives the reader exposure to a different type of sentence, with its own rules and punctuation. Rylant also portrays her dog character as the playful one, while Honey the cat was the playful party in Happy and Honey.

For me, Puppy Mudge Wants to Play is kind of a middle of the road easy reader. It’s perfectly well-written and suits its intended audience, but it’s also kind of predictable and much less interesting or engaging than the parent series. This is partly because the original Henry and Mudge books are much longer and allow for more character development, but I also think the author is sort of relying on the reader’s familiarity with the other series as a means for understanding the relationship between Henry and his dog. That isn’t a problem for the adult reader who can easily read both series, but kids just starting out without all that context might not find a reason to get excited about either character based on just this story.

Still, though, kids with big brothers and sisters who have read Henry and Mudge books will be glad to have one they can read themselves, and dog lovers will fall in love with Mudge, either because they recognize his behavior in their own dogs, or wish they could have a dog just like him.

I borrowed Puppy Mudge Wants to Play from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.